New oven works, my wife finds

Our gas oven went on the fritz a couple of years ago and we've been putting up with it for awhile, because it still sort of worked. But the problem got worse recently and we really couldn't use the oven very well. It wouldn't light consistently, and a recent repair shop looked at it and couldn't figure out what was wrong. So instead of repairing different things hoping it would fix it, we just decided to spend about $500 and replace the stove.

Wednesday afternoon the new stove arrived, along with an over-stove microwave we'd been wanting to get. My friend Vic (a sometimes contractor, drummer, and meat-smoker) saved us a bunch of money by helping us install them instead of paying Home Depot.

But the very first meal cooked on the new stove turned into a mini-disaster / drama. Natasha used a steel skillet to sear a pork tenderloin on the stove top, then finished it baking in the oven for 20-30 minutes. She took it out of the oven and set in on the stove top (using a hot pad), but then a couple of minutes later forgot the pan handle was still very hot and grabbed it with her right hand.

She got a very bad 2nd degree burn on her right palm and fingers (she wrapped her hand around the handle) and was in severe pain. So we rushed the kids over to my friends Wes and Corey's home and took Natasha to the minor emergency clinic recently opened in Kyle. I'm glad they were there and that we didn't have to go to an emergency room. I was also really thankful that Wes and Corey could watch our kids on such short notice -- it would have been really tough to be with the kids for 2-3 hrs at the clinic.

They gave her a shot for the pain (and prescription for Vicodin) and applied some silver sulfadiene ointment and wrapped her hand heavily (looked like something from The Mummy). A little more drama occurred when Natasha got sick to her stomach from the pain shot. She had been cooking dinner when the accident happened and didn't get to eat.

Anyway, her pain is pretty much gone now and is OK now, but it was a very stressful evening. I worked from home Thursday to help her watch the kids and am back at work today. Looking forward to a very relaxing / stress-free weekend (knock on wood).

Musical Friday: Fragile

Hi boys and girls. For Musical Friday today, one of my favorite Sting songs, Fragile.

Forbes.com: Slow Sipping Adult Tequilas for Cinco de Mayo

Great article here on Forbes.com on some excellent tequilas and mezcals. In addition to the main story, also check out the slide show and video links for more info and list. Pictured below, Corzo blanco, $45.

Musical Friday -- It's Business Time

Flight of the Conchords. It's Business Time!

"conditions are perfect ... there's nothing good on TV"

Avoiding Swine Flu

To reduce risk of exposure to swine flu, the US Centers for Disease Control strongly recommend against doing this.


Getting close to a fake pig, however, poses no risk. (me in downtown Seattle, 2007)

A great trend in cocktails!

Interesting article in Forbes.com about a trend in mixed drinks / cocktails to start treating them more like fine dining and using fresh / local ingredients. Link to article here. The title of the article is a little misleading (it's called Cocktails go Green, but it doesn't really have anything to with environmental issues -- it's more just about fresh ingredients versus using typical pre-made mixes). The cocktail above is the "look better naked" margarita with acai and rosemary by a bartender in Chicago from a club called Nacional 27!

Fun weekend at my uncle's in Houston

Our family went over to Houston (Richmond, specifically), to visit my uncle / aunt Bill (I call him "Barton", my mom's brother) and Twila Day, their daughters Alexandra and Katrina, and my grandmother Marjorie. Barton took several family pictures for us. See above and below for a couple, or link to my flickr page to see them. We didn't get an overall family shot because Lauren was not in a good mood and was crying when we tried to take the group photo, but we got a couple of good ones of her apart from the family/group shot.



Also, I learned that Barton took up classical guitar as a new hobby a few months ago. He got himself a nice guitar, an Antonio Loriente (web site here), and has a very good teacher he's taking lessons from. I forget his name, but he's a virtuoso player from Iceland that lives in Houston and travels the world playing in various symphony and solo performances. While Barton's just getting started, I think he's doing really well for the amount of time he's been playing. It was very cool sitting in his living room listening to him play -- see photo below.


Lastly, I got a chance to make some good margaritas for Barton and Twila. I used some Herradura silver tequila and Cointreau ... very nice.